Thursday, March 29, 2012

I Am The Messenger: review

Title: I Am The Messenger
Author: Markus Zusak
Genres: contemporary, mystery, humor, adult/young adult
Summary: Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That’s when the first Ace arrives. That’s when Ed becomes the messenger. . . .

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains: Who’s behind Ed’s mission?

I already want to go back and read it again!!!

From the first page, I was totally hooked. That doesn't happen too often for me. It's very fast paced and intriguing- a mystery.

Lots of it is hard to read, emotionally. Good and bad, depending on the card. If i were a book-crier, I probably would have let a tear or two slip out many times during his missions...

Ed is not a likable main character to start out with. He is a going-nowhere taxi driver who spends evenings playing cards with his few friends or watching pictures with the Doorman (my favorite character btw). But when the cards start coming, they are as much for him as the addresses on the aces. I liked watching Ed develop, to have a purpose. And by the end, I was smiling at it all.

My favorite thing about I Am The Messenger is the figurative language. It is not as prominent as it was in The Book Thief, (which I absolutely loved as well, but it is very different than this.) but it's still just as noticeable. And he is almost free-styling at some points. Lots of figurative sentences having to do with words, like people talking. "My words dripped onto my shoes and landed on the pavement between us" kind of thing. It makes more sense when he writes it...

I guess the only thing that annoyed me was Ed's love for Audrey. It was kind of the usual 'oh-my-god-I'm-so-in-love-with-her-and-she-doesn't-love-me-more-than-a-friend' thing. So. *coughJohnGreencough* Maybe it's just really how boys think. How depressing. Okay, I guess it did end up okay and not too silly. :)

I Am The Messenger is such a short book, but full of good meaning for anybody who is willing to listen. I highly recommend it.

5 full stars of course. This one deserves it.

-Jane

1 comment:

  1. The way that you said that the first page got you hooked make me want to read this book. Thanks for a great review

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